Miradas
by I.-.-.I Kuroyagi I.-.-.I
Summary: He left; leaving his guild in disarray and her heart lonely. Luckily, his friends stayed behind, and they're sure to make that change; daring to even say things that he wasn't able to say before leaving to mend that heart that he left almost broken.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its ****characters; they belong to the one and only Hiro Mashima.**

**I do own**** the idea for the fic.**

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><p><strong>Miradas<strong>**.**

_(Translation from Spanish: Looks.)_

_(A I.-.-.I Kuroyagi I.-.-.I original fan-fiction story.)_

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><p>She looked at the drink in her hand with melancholy written in her face, moving around its contents with a slow movement of her wrist. Her eyes were distant and devoid of emotion, her hair lose the brightness that it always had, her mouth was a thin line that was almost noticeable and her eyebrows turned to a frown in a sudden moment when she recalled what happened a week ago.<p>

Natsu left.

And she didn't look like herself anymore; she was more like a shadow of her former self. Like the little girl that arrive to the guild 8 years ago. And that didn't settle well with her friends.

"How much time will she stay like that?" Lucy asked while looking sadly at her red haired friend with her arms on the table and one hand supporting her head, the juice that Mira served her when she arrived at the guild that morning still untouched. She didn't like to see her like that, not when the whole Team was feeling down because of the departure of their leader. Gray sighed, not knowing what to say or to do; he just eyed his beer with a frown while lying on the table with his arms crossed.

Happy was no better than them, nobody; not even Charle or Lily, has seen him since he said goodbye to Natsu a week ago. The decision of his 'father' to leave him in the guild while he travelled was too hard for him, as it was to be expected, the two haven't separated for more than 3 days since his birth. Why Natsu thought in leaving him was a question that everyone was asking themselves and that only Gildartz and Makarov seemed to understand. But they kept the answer for themselves, knowing that telling the others the reason wasn't going to do them any better.

"I'll take a walk…" Gray said after a few minutes passed, raising from his seat and walking to the door with his hands in his pockets and his shirt missing. Lucy hummed in acknowledgement and continued to stare at her friend, not bothering to tell the ice mage that his shirt and coat were missing or that he was stripping his pants in his way to the door.

And the day went on like that, only a few remain in the late hours that the guild remained open, and Lucy; knowing that she needed to wake up early the next day to do a mission, took her leave against her will. Not wanting to leave Erza; who was still with the same drink and state, on the bar alone but knowing that it wasn't going to help her if she stayed there staring at her. She walked close to her and said her farewell to what the scarlet beauty only grunted in reply without looking at her.

Lucy sighed, took a final look at her friend and leave to her apartment with Mira following her with her blue eyes, which later turned to the mage that was still sitting on the bar with a depressed expression on her face. She frowned at the state in which her former rival was but said nothing, she wanted to tell them something to encourage them but knew that it was better if they came out of it on their own. "Erza, don't you think that it's time to go home?"

"Huh? Yes, I think that it is time." Said the scarlet while turning around and walking to the door, her expression unchanged and not bothering to say good bye to the ones that remained in the guild or Makarov who was sitting crossed legged at her side on top of the bar. Makarov only sighed tiredly before standing up and jumping down from the bar, heading to the stairs that lead to his room in the upper floors. He too was feeling down for Natsu's leave and even if he understood that the travel was something that the dragon slayer needed to do, the absence of the boy was something that struck him hard as the rest of the guild.

"Mira, tell the others to leave home, and do so as well… Don't bother in cleaning, there was no mess today… As yesterday…" Mira nodded with a sad smile and did as she was told. Since the boy left, the members didn't even felt like fighting like always and the guild was in such order that if they were to be told one month ago that things were going to be like that, a chorus of laughs would have erupted. It was like something big was missing and everyone noticed that it was as their guild's philosophy stated…

…they were a family. When one was in trouble, everyone came to the rescue. When one was sad, everyone did their best to cheer him or her up. And when one leave… everyone would miss him/her, no matter what, he/she was a part of the guild.

A part of the family.

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><p><em>The next day…<em>

Birds chirped, people walked through the streets doing their daily business and the sun shined with all his might. Something that Lucy dread the moment she got out of her home on her way to the guild. She saw how the people, knowing that the dragon slayer left for who-knows-how-long, still did everything as normal as always while the guild was in a depressed state. She wanted to know what moved them to continue with their lives when they were as fond of the fire eater as anyone from Fairy Tail and so she heard it, when she crossed close to a mom with her crying kid.

"When… when will Natsu return, mom?" The kid said in between loud sobs, while her mother looked at him with a small smile. She kneeled in front of the child and put her hands on his shoulder.

"I don't know dear, but be sure that he will return, as always…" That didn't seem to convince the kid as neither did convince Lucy but… "I can even bet that when he returns he will do one of his crazy entrances…"

"…R-really?" Asked the boy a little more calm. The mother's smile widened.

"Oh yes, this is Natsu of which we're talking about, right?" The kid chuckled lightly. "Now, clean those tears, do you want to see Natsu again with a sad face full of tears?"

"No mom!" The boy said after removing any trace of tears from his face with his arm and smiling brightly at her. The woman stood up and stretched out a hand for him to hold. "I'll wait for Natsu with a big smile!"

"That's good! Because we wouldn't want to make Natsu feel bad about his leaving, right?" And so, they left, talking about what the Salamander would do when he returned and leaving Lucy with something that hadn't struck her before. They were right in feeling down for his departure, but that didn't mean that they should stay like zombies until he return. That would only make him feel bad for his decision when they knew that it was a hard one for him to make, leaving the place that was home for him to look for clues of his adoptive father on his own. They would just hold him back if he returned with nothing and found that the guild was totally different that the one he knew for so many years, would he start another travel if he knew that his family was going to be moping around for his absence? The answer was a clear no. He would resign from his dream of finding and reuniting with his father if his conscience told him about the consequences of leaving again. So Lucy understood then, that she and the others couldn't receive Natsu like this, they needed to receive him back with open arms and smiles. Not like it was okay for him to leave permanently if he could, but to leave his mind clear of fear or doubt in leaving the guild again if the search didn't go well. He needed support!

"I need to tell this to the others!"

And she told them, everything from the conversation in between the mom and her kid to her own conclusion and the guild started to behave like always. Everyone was now feeling a lot better knowing that if Natsu were to hear somehow that the guild was in disarray for his leave, he would surrender his childhood dream, and they just couldn't do that to him. They couldn't be that selfish when they knew that if any of them ever had the chance to look for solutions to their sad stories and if that involved leaving the guild for an unknown limit of time, he would be the first to encourage them to do it, no matter what.

Lucy felt satisfied with her work and would have joined the fight that ensued when Elfman stated how manly was to support the dreams of close friends and someone told him to shut up while throwing him a chair, but something felt amiss. "Where are Erza and Gray?"

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><p><em>Somewhere in the forest near Magnolia...<em>

"So here you are…" Gray said to the red head, who was sitting with her eyes close against the tree that she shared with Natsu a week ago the day before his departure. She only opened her eyes to look at him for a second before closing them again, trying to remember the feeling that she felt at that time. Gray only frown at her action and took a seat at her side, crossing his arms and looking at the sky, he was thinking what to say to her since yesterday but nothing came to his mind, so he said the first thing that came to his mind. "I love you, Erza Scarlet…"

Erza's eyes opened and widened like plates at his words, she stood up and got away from Gray with a small blush on her face, she was going to question him of why he felt that way when his laughter left her with a questioning face.

"Is what you wish he would have said when he left, right?" Gray looked at her with a grin which didn't last long, because an angry fist sent him flying away from under the tree before he could even notice it.

"Don't joke around with that kind of things!" She screamed irritated before returning to her previous position with her arms crossed, the blush never leaving her face and a frown now settling over her features. Gray shakily stood up from the ground and walked back to his spot while rubbing his now red cheek.

"Okay, okay, no more jokes…" He said before staying strangely quiet, which didn't settle well with the red head, she knew that he was going to come up with something again. Which he did after a few more minutes passed and his cheek didn't hurt that much anymore. "You know that he will kill himself if he happens to know about your current state, right?"

"I don't think that it will bother him, otherwise he wouldn't have left in the first place…" Gray crossed his arms behind his head while lying completely on the grass.

"Come on Erza, you know that it was a tough decision for him, I'm sure that it was the most difficult thing that he had to do in his life… before openly admitting that we're good friends that its, thought I think that would be harder for him to do…" The Titania chuckled lightly at the last part; making Gray smiled softly at his advance in making her feel better but turned serious after the laugh ceased. "You know, every time something was wrong with you, he noticed it with only looking at your eyes… He told me; when he was drunk otherwise he wouldn't have told me, that he knew each and every one of your looks…"

"How's that?" The red head asked curiously while turning her head to look at the ice mage. He looked at the clear sky and kept silent for a while before speaking again.

"Well, his exacts words were…"

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><p><em>Two weeks ago…<em>

"_When she's sad, her eyes lose __life, they look false and it almost makes me think that she's someone else…" Natsu said while looking at his beer with a distant look, Gray thought that he was visualizing her when she was sad to make a more precise description… which surprised him, knowing that the fire eater out drink Cana a few moments ago and was still able to talk and think right when he was having serious trouble in… _"You're losing the trail of the story…"

"Do you want to know or not?" Gray said annoyed before shooting a look that clearly said that he wasn't going to continue if she complaint again. Understanding, she forced herself to stay quiet and prompted him to continue with the story.

"Good, now, where was I…?"

_When he was having serious trouble in finishing the drink that he still had in hand, but his state was good enough to fight and even beat Natsu to a pulp… _"Gray…"

"Okay! Tsk… No one likes to hear a good story these days…"

"_When she's about to cry…" Gray looked at how the grip that the pink haired had on the glass was tightening, making it crack a little before he inhale some air, calm__ed down and continued with his description. "Her pupils dilate and her eyes water so fast that one needs to be a moron to not notice it…"_

"_That's wrong, because you're a moron and you noticed it…" Gray said jokingly, shutting his mouth from laughing when Natsu shot him a dead glare before continuing. Telling the ice mage everything he knew about the red head like if he was writing a book about her, he knew so much that he was starting to scare the shit out of his friend, who was feeling like he just met with a fanboy of Erza Scarlet. That until he heard Natsu say to him with the most honest smile he had seen from him during that night._

"_And… when she smiles, she…" He turned to look at the person of whom he was talking about, who was sitting in the bar talking calmly with Mira and Lucy, something that the white haired beauty said cracking one the smiles that… "Lights up my heart, it makes me feel relax and happy, like if nothing could go wrong... That's something that I want to protect… If something happens to that smile when I'm gone, I would kill the bastard that made it happen…"_

"_And if the bastard happens to be you?" Gray said seriously, knowing that this wasn't time for jokes. Natsu turned to face him, a look that said that he thought of that possibility mixed with his most serious face._

"_I would leave Fairy Tail… Permanently…" Gray's eyes widened at the response, clearly Natsu was joking; he wouldn't leave the guild just because he made the woman cry, right? But the look he received told him otherwise._

"_You… are serious?" Said shakily the ice mage, almost losing his balance and falling from the chair in which he was sitting; Natsu only nodded._

"_I made a promise… to someone… and to myself…"_

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><p>"And that was all… we were hit by a table that someone threw at us and we cut short the talk there…" Gray said before closing his eyes and letting himself be drawn to sleep. The place so quiet and peaceful that he couldn't deny the urge to relax and enjoy the place a little, but the sound of restrained sobs that he heard made him open his eyes in shock and fear, he rose up his torso from the ground and turned to look at the red head next to him. Finding her choking back tears that wanted to escape her eyes. "Oh please! Don't cry! If Natsu finds out…!"<p>

"I'm just crying tears of joy, idiot…" She said, not so convincingly to the freak out man at her side. Gray was about to say something when another voice sounded from behind them.

"That's good, right?" Lucy said while stepping into the clearing and getting close to the tree in which they were sitting. She seemed to have heard everything. "Because you wouldn't like it if he finds out that he indirectly made you cry…"

"Lucy…" Erza said with a small smile, appreciating her presence and how she understood her situation better than the man at her side. The blonde sat at the other side of the Titania, bringing her knees close to her chest and hugging them with both arms before turning to face Erza with a small smile.

"He'll return Erza, don't worry, and I'm sure that when he does… He'll tell you what he told Gray personally…" Erza smiled at that thought, it was something that could make her tolerate this time that he wasn't around with them; with her.

"Yeah, I would like that…" She said finally, turning to a position like Lucy's but using her knees to support her head while she had a dreamy look on her face. Lucy gave a small smile in Gray's direction, which he returned and both turned to relax under the tree's shade. Losing the notion of time and not noticing that all that time, they were watched by a fourth person… or animal.

Happy smiled happily, seeing that his father's friends were alright and ready to stand the months or years in which he was going to be absent. He turned to look at the sky, silently praying for Natsu to return safely, to his side, to his team's side… to the one that had his heart side. "Natsu…"

**The End.**

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><p><strong>No comments again. I love this story, I feel like it came out perfectly the way I wanted it to be.<strong>

**So... I hope you guys enjoyed it. Cause I certainly did.**

****Saludos.****


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